Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.
I have two 8800 GTS's and am very happy with them. If you go through evga they give you 3 months to step up to a new card if one comes out or you want to go to a gtx.
By the time my step up is almost out I will have two gtx's while using 2 gts's for 3 months.
I have the same chipset. Not sure about the heat pipe layout but I doubt they are much different. As long as you have adequate airflow where the heat pipe ends at the top you should be fine.
I just had to switch to a TJ09 case from a pcv11100 from lian li because the latter inverts the board...